Supporters’ perceived brand equity of the Bafana Bafana National Soccer Team of South Africa

The purpose of this study was to measure the perceptions of Bafana Bafana supporters towards brand equity. A quantitative approach was adopted and data were collected using a structured survey questionnaire administered to 391supporters based at the Vaal University of Technology. The instrument comprised 28-items that were developed from four sub-scales of brand equity, namely; brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality and brand association. The inter-item reliability of the sub-scales was assessed revealing cronbach alpha values that ranged between 0.785 and 0.864. Furthermore, the results of the mean score rankings identified brand loyalty as the most significant equity dimension; followed closely by brand awareness, perceived quality and brand association. These findings indicate that sports team marketers need to establish a multifaceted branding strategy in order to retain supporters’ loyalty as this is fundamental for sustainable team brand success. The results of the study also revealed strong to moderate positive inter-factor correlations ranging between 0.479 and 0.774 at p<0.01; demonstrating high levels of cohesiveness and the existence of strong, positive and bivariate relationships among the four constructs with brand equity. An evaluation of how the validated brand equity attributes can be developed and managed can go a long way towards transforming Bafana Bafana, the national soccer team as a highly distinguishable global brand.Keywords: Brand equity, perceived perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand association, supporters